Netanyahu Tried To Get Out A Story Attacking Naftali Bennett’s Wife
Image by getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu tried to convince the owner of a popular news site to run a negative story about the wife of a political rival, according to a television report.
Israel Television News reported that the prime minister called on Shaul Elovitch — at the time the owner of Walla News — to run a report stating that Gilat Bennett, the wife of Education Minister and Jewish Home faction leader Naftali Bennett, once worked as a chef in a non-kosher restaurant. The report, about events said to have happened in 2002, was never published.
The police have previously recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for allegedly offering Elovitch favors in exchange for better coverage. Earlier this week they again recommended his indictment in a separate case in which he stands accused of offering a similar quid pro quo to the owner of the Yediot Aharonot daily newspaper.
Bennett described the prime minister’s alleged attempt to tar his wife as as “despicable and cowardly act.” In turn, the Likud Party accused the prominent national-religious politician of hypocrisy and of slandering first lady Sara Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has previously complained about press coverage of his own family. Earlier this year Sara Netanyahu was indicted for allegedly using $100,000 in state funds to order takeout from high-end restaurants despite employing a cook at government expense. Police have recommended she be indicted in the Elovitch case as well.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
